X-Men: Angel

Updated on May 6, 2012

Warren Worthington was one of the first five members of the X-Men and one the more intriguing characters. He isn't exactly a household name as the average fan may not know too much about the character, but his story arcs are rather interesting. His powers are simple, he can fly like an angel due to the fact that he has wings that protrude out from his shoulder blades. In fact his entire body is built to fly, he has hollow bones, limited fat, eyes that can withstand high speed winds and he can go as fast 150 mph in the air. In a way he is a dive bomber and can be quite an asset in a major battle.

Warren Worthington was born into an incredibly wealthy family and with that known he attended a very prestigious East coast boarding school, but his live drastically changed when wings sprouted out from his shoulder blades. When this happened, in order to blend in among his peers, he tried to keep them hidden under his clothes. However, his wings continued to grow and could not be kept secret for long. Later in his school life, a fire erupted in his dormitory and in his attempts to escape he realized that his wings granted him the ability to fly. At night he would then don a blonde wig and a long night suit to disguise himself as a "Angel" vigilante. This in turn, caught the attention of Charles Xavier as he was putting together his team of X-Men. The big selling point for Warren was the inclusion of one Jean Grey on the X-Men, who caught the eye of Warren immediately. He joined the team, but quickly backed off when she realized she truly had feelings for the team leader Cyclops. He left the X-Men on several occasions and the first time was due to his father being murdered by agents of the criminal known as the Dazzler. After doing some detective-like work, Warren found out that Dazzler was actually his uncle Burt who had been using his brother's company as a cover. Warren sought him out to exact his revenge, and when the two fought he simply picked him up and dropped him from a great height. Warren presumed that the fall had killed his uncle Burt, but he was wrong. Burt would later go on to marry Warren's mother Kathryn in order to secure his family fortune but his plans would foiled by Warren and the X-Men. However, Kathryn did not survive in the process.

Warren and the other original X-Men, were captured on the sentient island of Krakoa. Xavier sent in a new group of mutants to rescue them and when they were brought home safely, Warren and many of his teammates left the group. Warren revealed himself to the public that he was in fact Angel, but did manage to keep Charles Xavier and his X-Men out of the public eye. Warren received his family fortune and used it to create a group of his own called the Champions, which held up in Los Angeles. Angel was sought out by other groups within the Marvel Universe such as the Avengers, which he turned down, while he did help Spider-Man and the X-Men to take down Sauron in the Savage Land. His group of Champions did not last long, and when it eventually disbanded he hightailed it back to his X-Men brethren but his constant feuds with Wolverine led to his eventually departure once more. He eventually met a fellow mutant by the name of Alison Blaire, who took the mutant name of Dazzler, and the two entered a brief relationship. Dazzler would sometimes help out the X-Men on occasion as well. Warren met up with another team of mutants called the Defenders which was led by his former X-Men teammate, Hank McCoy a.k.a Beast. Warren became the team's financier.

Warren's wings in a fight with a Marauder named Harpoon received damage to the point where he needed to be hospitalized for it. At the hospital a doctor was tricked into believing that his wings were in need of amputation. Shortly after, Warren was traveling on his private jet but it happened to have been tampered with by one named Hodge. Hodge tampered with the plane to fall from the sky, trapping Warren inside as he plummeted to his death. The incident appeared to the outside world of a simple suicide of sorts but in fact he was saved by Apocalypse, as he also offered to repair Warren's wings. Warren, in desperation of getting his wings back accepted Apocalypse's offer. Through technological and genetic manipulation Warren's skin was turned blue and his wings became metal and razor sharp. However, Warren became Apocalypse Horseman of Death and he had became indoctrinated to carry out his will. His first order was to kill his former X-Men teammate Iceman, and when he believed that he did kill Iceman he was eventually able to break Apocalypse's programming. Warren then sought out Hodge, because if it weren't for him none of these changes to his appearance would have occurred, and Warren decapitated Hodge. Warren subsequently joined the faction known as X-Factor under the new name, Archangel. As a part of the X-Factor team, he developed a relationship with fellow mutant Psylocke. The two were romantically linked for a long period of time and when one would leave the X-Men or X-Factor, the other quickly followed in line.

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